Live sand: gulf-view vs. natures ocean

[jussmeac]

I just got my live rock from gulf-view.com last week and he was out of his live sand. He said he can get me some after christmas.

The cycle is heading into day 5 now. Ammonia is up and all other levels are low.

Should I wait for the live sand from gulf-view.com or purchase natures ocean from a LFS?

Also, will adding the live sand have an effect on my cycle?

 

[danmhippo]

If you already have LR, Getting LS from gulf view or prepackaged from LFS probably won't make that much of differences anymore. There should be enough starters from the LR that will seed your sand bed, whatever it is.

If you still want to get LS from the sea, try getting them from another vendor, maybe you will get more diversity into your tank if it's from someone other than Gulf View.

Depending on how far into the cycle your tank is in. If you add LS now, both LS and LR should cycle about the same time frame. If you waited until LR finished cycle, then add LS, most likely, you will experience another mini cycle, all over again.

HTH

Jimmy

 

[JeremyR]

Pre-packaged live sand is an oxymoron.. if you are going to buy it in a bag, get the cheaper dead stuff.

 

[Anemone]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Jeremy Russell:
<strong>Pre-packaged live sand is an oxymoron.. if you are going to buy it in a bag, get the cheaper dead stuff.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Aw Jeremy!

I've used the stuff, and it works (at least it did in my 6 gal nano - no cycle). Whatever they do to the bacteria to keep it alive appears effective. That being said, it has NO macro critters (ie, 'pods, worms, and small shrimp) - all you get (and pay for) is the live bacteria in/on the sand.

Kevin

 

[newreefman1]

Agreed with anemone. I used it back in my 60 when I had it setup before, used 25 lbs of it in my 18 tall reef and took that 25 and put it in my 60. The cycle of tanks

Regardless, I only used this sand because I really liked the grain size and color(its a pink reef sand). Whatever bacteria that was in there sure didnt hurt anything but I wouldn't have relied solely on that to help my tank instantly cycle. The best thing as mentioned above is diversity and time.
Rock from all different sources, sand from various sources(see if you can find a local reefer to get some live sand from) and then just wait, things reproduce fantastically sand bed will be just that more diverse!

Jason.

 

[lady diver]

We bought our live sand & rock from gulfview.com. He farms his own here in Fl. His rock came from the Bahamas?barge full in the early 90's & he's been farming it for a few years now. We went to his house in Tampa, FL to pick up afetr he came back from the dive. His stuff is awesome. we have more people tell us our rock is the best. The sand is very alive & I fell is better than the other. A tank takes a long time to cycle & become easy. It's been a little cool & windy, thats why he can't get offshore to get more sand.

It's worth the wait.

Once your set up he has awesome polyps too.

 

[JeremyR]

<<Aw Jeremy! I've used the stuff, and it works (at least it did in my 6 gal nano - no cycle). Whatever they do to the bacteria to keep it alive appears effective. That being said, it has NO macro critters (ie, 'pods, worms, and small shrimp) - all you get (and pay for) is the live bacteria in/on the sand.>>

Which isn't particularly necessary if you are putting live rock in there eh kev?